


How to Love a Mess

by NikitaDreams



Category: Jessica Jones (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-21 23:42:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13751655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NikitaDreams/pseuds/NikitaDreams
Summary: How you fall in love with a mess of a woman, or how one might, according to Luke Cage.





	How to Love a Mess

It begins, predictably, with sex.

And then you find yourself spending other sorts of time together. Grabbing a quick bite, lounging in bed with no real desire to leave. Suddenly there’s the possibility it could be something more.

And then the baggage gets unpacked and it’s real and way too personal.

You think you can’t handle the mess.

Especially after some psycho uses it to target you. Suddenly it’s not just your shit you’re in, but someone else’s. A lifetime history of shit. When it started with sex, you’re thinking this isn’t what you signed up for.

You think you’d like something easier. Something pleasant and uncomplicated. Someone in your life who has their shit more together than you do. 

But then your paths cross again and you remember why you started to fall for that mess. Uncomplicated is pleasant but like a river without a source it runs dry when there’s no love.

Life changes, in big and little ways and you see each other at the bar. She’s still a mess, but better. You still remember that possibility. It hangs in the air between you like you’re both afraid to do anything, to say anything.

When the booze does the talking… well it’s always sex again. Maybe that’s the easy part. Even though now you’re friends, and it’s different. You know about the mess and the baggage. About one another.

And there’s more. If you take the time to unwrap the mess. Even though she’s been through hell somehow she’s still holding herself together. There’s strength in that and you can’t help but admire it.

You can’t help but notice that she smiles when you’re together. Like, really smiles. And that these days, she’s drinking slightly less. She still has episodes and issues, nights when she wakes up screaming and you can’t touch her. But she never breaks a promise, and she’ll fight like hell for those she cares about.

You know you’re one of those people, even though she never really says it. More and more of her things are showing up at your place and your bed is empty less nights. You don’t talk about it, but it still happens. Suddenly her mess is your mess and it all seems somehow more manageable. Or maybe it’s just that it doesn’t scare you anymore.

Life changes and there’s more shit, but there’s someone to face it with. And it’s not your shit or her shit because you’ve stopped thinking that way. Now whatever problems there are you face together. You know it without even having to say it, that she’ll be there to support you. Without question. You know because you do the same. You know because you can’t imagine tomorrow and the day afterwards and the next day without her in your life. Because you love her.

The simplest answer when it comes to how to love a mess is obvious. You just love her.


End file.
